Lou_be_Lou turns up at the dojo

[Lou_be_Lou]

Bows, and is really pleased to back on the mat.

My current main goal is to turn up for exercise.  No major achievements to tick off a list, just turning up, enjoying being there, and getting moving again.

 

This week has been good - made it to Jujitsu training for the first time in a long time, and it was great.  Yes I was sooooo out of practise, but being there felt great.  And there was a chorus of "see you in six months" after class, so I have to prove those sceptics wrong.  Today is lunch time run with a work run buddy.  Good.

Big reason for action = wanting to be fit enough and strong enough for music and life things.  Plus, I'm feeling like a lapsed martial artist, and nope, I say no to lapsing.

 

Goals for the challenge.

1) stay well (= avoid all of the gluten and most of the dairy, and pace myself with increased exercise)

2) decrease = moderate decrease in nutrient dense foods and increased veges. 

3) enjoy exercise (I'm not setting a fixed schedule here, just get my butt moving most days, options include: yoga (at home and in class); walking, including stairs at work, thus avoiding work lift roulette (the number of lift stalls with folk stuck in it is well into double digits, step away from the lift); running (treadmill or outdoors); kickboxing on a sunday night; jujitsu on a tuesday; some swimming; and at home kickboxing practise.  But I am not to try to do all of that every week because that will  mean crashing and burning and becoming ill.  Yep, I'm attempting to learn from past mistakes.

4) play that bass.  Six days a week.  Yes, really.

 

[Kishi]

Manage stress, manage recovery, and you'll find that movement is super easy. Yoga and walking in fact can be a couple of physical movement methods that you can use to help yourself feel better.

 

But yeah. Stay well. No crashing or burning. Rock on!

[Lou_be_Lou]

3 hours ago, Kishi said:

Manage stress, manage recovery, and you'll find that movement is super easy. Yoga and walking in fact can be a couple of physical movement methods that you can use to help yourself feel better.

 

But yeah. Stay well. No crashing or burning. Rock on!

 

Yep, about that managing stress thing......  I'm trying hard to work hard at work, then leave it behind.  Right now, not managing it very well.  Had some work surprises sprung on me in the last week, I think it means that I need to figure out 1) how to look after students without micromanaging (I usually can do this, but this year's batch seem to have more new (to them) techniques almost everyday) and 2) delegate.  

 

And yes, I love both walking and yoga - they're long time favourites.

 

Feeling good right now as my work run buddy system worked - it was great getting outdoors in the middle of the day.  A fairly slow lunchtime 4k, affectionately known as a slow short run.  Much better than just sitting on my arse.   

[Lou_be_Lou]

All going just fine here

 

not enough double bass playing, but it was a weird weekend, and I still managed one practise, I just wanted to do more.  We had friends over for dinner on Saturday though and there was significant cleaning, tidying and cooking to do.  Bonus cooking points though as I tried two new recipes in the weekend and they were both keepers (fennel and feta koftas, and some buckwheat pancakes with tumeric and cumin).  I also managed to be social, always a challenge.  Disappointing lack of leftovers, I have no idea how they ate that much food.

 

Exercise wise I made it to parkrun, so a gentle 5k, without any walking, so that is my first continuous 5k this year.  Yay.

Then last night was kickboxing, it was fun, lots of interesting combinations, and I'm working on that irritating thing "flow".   Describing it as flow just irritates me.  But last night I had a bit of an epiphany.  For the last few weeks I've been making my double bass students all think of bigger phrases rather than individual notes - so instead of each note of a Bb scale, play an entire Bb scale - surprisingly its making a massive difference to what they sound like.  And this mysterious concept of "flow", ok, its exactly the same thing.  Instead of individual moves being equivalent to letters or words, join them up, and you get sentences.  All a bit of a DUH moment.  Hopefully running with the scale metaphor I'll manage to change how I train from move, move, move, move, to something all together more beautiful and effective.  Feels like a good bit of headology (with thanks to @sarakingdom).

 

Oh, and morning back care happened today.  Always a good start to a day.

[Kishi]

You know, it's funny. My sensei talks about it in the same way - not just in terms of flow but also in terms of hitting beats rather than trying to go fast and get through things. Because you don't want to cut off your power when you strike, but you don't want to be slow either. So you just work on hitting a rhythm and getting more efficient with the beats, and suddenly, speed!

 

Anyway, glad to hear that things are awesome over here!

[Mistr]

Yay for returning to the dojo!

 

I agree, it is much better to be an active student making progress, at any pace than one of the multitude of "oh yeah, I used to do martial arts too" people.

 

Nice image on phrases instead of notes. At practice yesterday sensei had us working on being spontaneous. Playing improv rather than memorized phrases. The challenge is to change in time with your partner. Levels of the game.

[Lou_be_Lou]

On 19/02/2018 at 4:07 PM, Kishi said:

You know, it's funny. My sensei talks about it in the same way - not just in terms of flow but also in terms of hitting beats rather than trying to go fast and get through things. Because you don't want to cut off your power when you strike, but you don't want to be slow either. So you just work on hitting a rhythm and getting more efficient with the beats, and suddenly, speed!

 

Anyway, glad to hear that things are awesome over here!

Absolutely - thinking of the rhythm makes such a difference. But I know for music that I can have the right rhythm but still be thinking just on the level of one note, one note, one note. So the flow metaphor still needs some additional connection.

 

I like the idea of not cutting things off. So some techniques need more time and space. Rhythm isn't the same as even temporal space. 

 

It's definitely involving an extra bit of my brain and is making me look forwards to playing with more headology.

[Lou_be_Lou]

On 19/02/2018 at 5:51 PM, Mistr said:

Yay for returning to the dojo!

 

I agree, it is much better to be an active student making progress, at any pace than one of the multitude of "oh yeah, I used to do martial arts too" people.

 

Nice image on phrases instead of notes. At practice yesterday sensei had us working on being spontaneous. Playing improv rather than memorized phrases. The challenge is to change in time with your partner. Levels of the game.

Yay!!!!! I love the idea of your improv practice.  That has to blow some cobwebs out of your brain. One of my favourite rehearsals was free improv - bass, sax ( and other blowy things), and poet, we kept managing to start on the same note as each other. There is no logical explanation. After the first few times we either just sat there on that note or collapsed into laughter. 

 

My other thought from your improv training - welcome to jazz aikido! 

With jazz and other music improv i like the idea of a " dynamic library " - all sorts of phrases and patterns that can be called upon. Again, not thinking of one note at a time. Instead, dropping in a complete phrase. Much like any good block and attack combination.

 

Sounds like great fun.

[Jigme]

I was reading about a Ba Gua school and their website said "Ba Gua (or baguazhang) is the Jazz of martial arts."  Apparently, that is a thing.

[sarakingdom]

On 2/20/2018 at 4:55 PM, Lou_be_Lou said:

One of my favourite rehearsals was free improv - bass, sax ( and other blowy things)

 

 

 

Headology is hard. I have a lot of difficulty with it. Yours is... too hard for me. But tantalizing.

[karinajean]

hi old friend! following.  

[Lou_be_Lou]

On 20/02/2018 at 11:48 PM, Jigme said:

I was reading about a Ba Gua school and their website said "Ba Gua (or baguazhang) is the Jazz of martial arts."  Apparently, that is a thing.

This sounds cool - but wow, am I right in thinking Ba Gua is a flavour of kung fu?  It sounds amazing.  And it sounds like their approach is different both in rhythm and reactions - so yup, martial arts jazz.  I am in no way ready for this!

 

 

 

On 24/02/2018 at 4:12 PM, sarakingdom said:

 

 

 

Headology is hard. I have a lot of difficulty with it. Yours is... too hard for me. But tantalizing.

 

I'm discovering I like the headology - shouldn't be a surprise seeing as I love jazz, also squeaky gate music, oh, and beethovena nd bach.  Yep, all of the headology right there.

 

On 01/03/2018 at 2:05 AM, karinajean said:

hi old friend! following.  

YAY!!!!!!!! Its Karinajean!!!!!!!!!  Excellent.

 

SOooooooo, I vanished.  My bad.

 

The first week was because of doing all of the things - good jujitsu class on the tuesday - new combinations rather than syllabus work, and some grappling (not my favourite, and memo to self, do not get caught between Nicola the power lifter's thighs), good class.  Then lunchtime run with a friend (short and slow) on thursday, friday no exercise (rest day, apparently that is important), but went to a good concert (scottish national jazz orchestra, 1st half was Peter and the Wolf, which was good, yes a very different interpretation, 2nd half was a re-imagining of carnival of the animals, and it was spectacularly good, I would love to hear it all again, just glorious glorious music).  Sunday was kickboxing again - fabulous.  The next week started well, tuesday lunchtime run (short and slow and in light unexpected snow).  And up to this point I'd been managing daily back exercises, good food, loads of veges, and generally was doing well, just not managing to post....... Tuesday night the stupidly heavy snows came.  I was in the scotland red warning bit where the police were recommending that everyone stayed home, some of the roads near me were completely closed, some were partially open.  It was rubbish, I didn't cope well.  Ate almost all of the chocolate in the house, ate oven fries, did not do back care exercises, did not do yoga, did not use my kick bag.  All of the fun stuff was cancelled, but I was unfortunately/fortunately close enough to work that one day I was called in for an alarm, and another day for looking after all of the cell cutures for the lab.  Turns out I hate driving in snow. 

 

Not all bad, I had three big snow shovelling sessions (that counts as cardio?). I cooked a good batch of pea and ham soup which lasted for most of the snow in.  By sunday I had my baking head on, so baked crispbreads (plus a batch of hummus to eat with them), gf bread x2, and muesli.  And a lot of cushion covers were made.  But wow, the snow messed with my head.

 

Yesterday I managed to restart back care (and it doesn't just make my back feel better, my brain immediately felt more like itself - I just need to remember this).  Today's felt even better.  Tonight I was back at jujitsu - absolutely loved it.  Was partnered with two brown belts (I'm blue), so got thrown a lot.  They were practising their 25 throw series for their gradings, and a pile of counters, and combinations.  Really really proud of myself - I used to be completely petrified by being thrown in valley drop throws, corner throws and rear throws - tonight I started out scared but willing, and about 20 landings later, I'm quite happy with them.  I also relearnt how to throw a valley drop throw (three ways, from a punch, from a front strangle and from a rear strangle), not quite as many repeats, but yep, they worked just fine.  YAY!!!!  Loved it.  It was also interesting, after a week of doing very little exercise I felt much more energetic at training.....  Makes me think that I haven't got the exercise/rest balance quite right.......

[Mistr]

Great to hear about your recent adventures.

 

I take it your area does not get much serious snow? We got heavy snow last night and the roads were bad. By this morning it had half-melted and there were a lot of icy spots. Our road crews are prepared for this weather. By tomorrow everything should be clear.

 

Yay for getting good practice in at jujitsu! Sounds like you are making excellent progress. Also good that you have more data on your exercise/sleep/food balance. That one is always a challenge.

[sarakingdom]

SNOW DAY!

[sarakingdom]

SNOW DAY!

[Lou_be_Lou]

14 hours ago, Mistr said:

I take it your area does not get much serious snow? We got heavy snow last night and the roads were bad. By this morning it had half-melted and there were a lot of icy spots. Our road crews are prepared for this weather. By tomorrow everything should be clear.

 

Oh yes, more snow than I've seen here since moving here 15 (maybe?) years ago.....  To the extent that we've had bread/milk/chicken/oats/petrol shortages.  All of the excitement.  Though apparently stating "welcome to my world" in response to the first two shortages wasn't helpful.  

 

 

10 hours ago, sarakingdom said:

SNOW DAY!

SNOW 5 DAYS!!!!  I was super impressed by my neighbour's igloo - not joking, a heap of local schools set igloo construction as homework.  Unfotunately it was child sized, so I didn't fit in it..... Lacked the motivation to make a larger one.  But I now know that packing snow into a duploo box is a good strategy for making the bricks.

 

Today we finally saw sunshine (we morphed straight from snow to rain) - feel much more human after that (the good jujitsu session also helped).

[Kishi]

Yeah, it's funny how even doing a little bit of the regular routine can help you to feel more human, even in the midst of adverse weather. But it can be tricky too. I try to be careful about getting enough optimal food ahead of time so that I can eat well without having to worry over driving and such, but it can be hard to plan for.

 

1 hour ago, Lou_be_Lou said:

SNOW 5 DAYS!!!!  I was super impressed by my neighbour's igloo - not joking, a heap of local schools set igloo construction as homework.

 

Whaaaaat. Our schools over here suck. I never got igloo construction as a project, even when I lived in places that had enough snow for that to be a thing.

[Mistr]

8 hours ago, Lou_be_Lou said:

Oh yes, more snow than I've seen here since moving here 15 (maybe?) years ago.....  To the extent that we've had bread/milk/chicken/oats/petrol shortages.  All of the excitement.  Though apparently stating "welcome to my world" in response to the first two shortages wasn't helpful.  

 

Yes, I can see where that might not be helpful. I talked with Elf last night about their skin condition. Perhaps allergies to foods are contributing? They know that is possible and don't want to face giving up dairy and gluten yet. I persuaded them to talk to their doctor about getting tested. Maybe the culprit is soap or some other environmental hazard. We live in the motherland of dairy. Avoiding it is difficult.

 

8 hours ago, Lou_be_Lou said:

SNOW 5 DAYS!!!!  I was super impressed by my neighbour's igloo - not joking, a heap of local schools set igloo construction as homework.  Unfotunately it was child sized, so I didn't fit in it..... Lacked the motivation to make a larger one.  But I now know that packing snow into a duploo box is a good strategy for making the bricks.

 

Today we finally saw sunshine (we morphed straight from snow to rain) - feel much more human after that (the good jujitsu session also helped).

 

Impressive. We always have snowmen after the first real snowfall. After that people get complacent. I can't remember ever building an igloo. As a little kid I did make a snow cave by tunneling into the pile next to my grandparent's driveway. It says something that the pile was big enough that I could make a cave with more than one room and play in it for weeks.

[Lou_be_Lou]

On 3/7/2018 at 9:43 PM, Mistr said:

 

Yes, I can see where that might not be helpful. I talked with Elf last night about their skin condition. Perhaps allergies to foods are contributing? They know that is possible and don't want to face giving up dairy and gluten yet. I persuaded them to talk to their doctor about getting tested. Maybe the culprit is soap or some other environmental hazard. We live in the motherland of dairy. Avoiding it is difficult.

 

 

Impressive. We always have snowmen after the first real snowfall. After that people get complacent. I can't remember ever building an igloo. As a little kid I did make a snow cave by tunneling into the pile next to my grandparent's driveway. It says something that the pile was big enough that I could make a cave with more than one room and play in it for weeks.

Good luck to Elf with their skin condition.  Skin is so tricky - both internal and external contributors to irritation - my skin is much more stable (pre-gluten free I had about 5 months of constant urticaria, by constant I mean differing degrees of irritation but so rashy and so itchy and so off the planet on anti-allergy medication) now, but sometimes after eating a new thing, all of the itching - so yes I would certainly recommend playing with food.  Planting the idea of an elimination diet in their head may be useful.........  

 

Wow re a snow pile that lasted for weeks.  What a wonderful cave to play in.

 

My tail end of challenge was fine - I did some exercise, I turned up when I could.  With the exception of snow days, I ate much less rubbish food, and I've eaten loads of veges.  I'm feeling a bit more energetic, and healthy.  I'm also feeling stronger when lugging the double bass around.  These are good things.

 

Time to go and plan the next challenge.  Nope, it'll be more of the same as I feel like I'm just starting to get back into exercise.

For bonus points I managed a lunchtime run yesterday - YAY.

[Kishi]

I mean, it's not like a consolidation challenge is bad, right? Habits are a bit more delicate than we tend to give them credit for - once they're in place, it's great, but the truth is that we mess up so much on the way to placing them that they're typically not secure at the end of a month.

 

So! Good job! Way to make it happen. See you next round!